HT's Take - The Drug Court Controversy - Politics or Abuse of Power ???

An interesting story has arisen concerning the Clark Co. drug court. It has all the intrigue of dirty politics, abuse of power, secrecy, cover ups . All the things Clark Co. is famous/ infamous for. Allegedly two Drug Court employees have been crossing the scope of their job positions and authority by arresting/ harassing drug court participants. This incident(s) was brought to light by Co. Comm. John Perkins on WHAS -11 yesterday (see interview below).  Apparently a couple of judges were aware of this incident(s) and hired a private investigator to investigate the matter. These are serious accusations which if true needed to be addressed and if those involved are guilty they need to reprimanded, suspended or fired.

  Some serious questions arise and this is where it get's intriguing. Why wasn't this handled in house by Judge Jacobi the judge presiding over the drug court ?  Does he not know and have control over what his staff is doing ?  Why was a private investigator hired instead of turning this alleged incident over to local police for investigation ???  What are J. Perkins motives for reporting this to the media ??  Why all the secrecy about the investigation before yesterday ??

 Well here's my opinion for what's worth. It appears Judge Jacobi may be lacking institutional control over his staff and hired the private investigator hoping to keep things quiet in finding out what was going on. It concerns me that a PI was hired using tax dollars when it should have been reported to the appropriate police dept. While I'm not a big John Perkins fan,  this issue did need to be released to the public. Was Perkins' motive for releasing the information strictly political ?? That's very possible, Perkins is up for reelection and while  I don't know Perkins' relationship to the judges involved, one of the alleged parties in the investigation is a son of a current officeholder of the opposing party to Perkins. And it was curious that Perkins did this on his own without the participation of the other 2  Co. Commissioners both Republicans. It may have been political grandstanding and getting some air time before the election....but I don't really know, it may have been  general concern on Perkins'part..

 What's more concerning to me is the alleged treatment being received by the drug court participants and the alleged abuse of power . According to the article in the News/ Tribune  http://www.newsandtribune.com/local/x1186914465/IN-DEPTH-LOOK-Clark-County-court-personnel-under-investigation participants in the drug court program may have been subjected to strong arm and abuse of power tactics by these employees of judge Jacobi's court. While these participants are law breakers they need positive reinforcement  not Gestapo like tactics in their efforts to get their lives in in order and break their addiction habits. Discipline through  self help, and positive influence will go further than the counter productive fear and harassment allegedly being  used by Judge Jacobi's staff. If the drug court is going to continue they need to look  seriously at the way they operate. The drug court should and can be be a much needed positive program and influence if operated and administered correctly.

 But in the end,  this is Clark Co. and this story has all the elements except sex to make this another intriguing story in politics, you got to love it... Well anyway that's the way I see it .....